I'm getting this almost everytime I take a pic and the flash goes off. The screen will go black right after the flash goes off and I have to pull the battery to get the phone to do anything. Thoughts?
That is not normal. I will PM you to get your info to see what options we have.
Yeah that happened to me today too.
After a day of this happening none stop that night I put my Charge on the charger and the next morning it magically stopped doing this.
I just found this thread. Picked up a Droid Charge yesterday and had this exact same thing happen last night. Took a flash picture and the phone went dark and would not turn back on with start button. I gave up messing around with it and plugged it in planning to drive back to store this morning (2hr RT). This morning it seems to work fine, but I am concerned. Battery was at 3/4 full when this happened...does the phone only have capacity to take flash pictures with an absolutely full battery? Is there a short or defect in the camera? Please post more information on this problem.
Here is what I've found. The shutdown/blackscreen is caused (at least for me) by the camera's "review" feature (go to settings>tools tab>"review" checkbox). as long as "review" isn't checked, the phone does not blackscreen with the flash on. My suspicion is that what people have been saying about the SD card speed is the real cause of this. The camera takes the picture and then accesses the card to write the file. This takes longer than it shoud, since the card is only a class 2. while the write process is happening, the camera application tries to read the file, which is currently still in the process of being written, in order to display the image for review. this causes a read/write error and forces the phone to shut down. Let me know if turning off "review" works for anyone else. Also, see if this still happens with faster SD cards.
Dear pvsteadi,
I think you may also have to take into account the state of charge of the battery. I have a Class 2 card, the setting is on review, and my phone does not shut down when I take a flash picture. I keep the phone in a desk dock when at my desk, and in a car dock when in the car; it is usually fully or nearly fully charged. I get a "black screen" for about 2-3 seconds after taking the picture and then I see the picture in review mode.
Mine is doing this crap too. Tried the reset as mentioned, no luck. What's the resolution other than a new phone?
betteroff87 wrote: Mine is doing this crap too. Tried the reset as mentioned, no luck. What's the resolution other than a new phone?
I too have confirmed the reset doesn't correct the issue and there is no proof that a replacement device will cure it either. So be careful if you're are thinking about taking a replacement device because it will be a refurbished unit.
Greenrobot,
Let's test your power idea by fully charging the battery, reduce the screen brightness and have the charger plugged in. Then take a flash picture and see if it still goes blank and so forth.
Also, please test the PS idea in my last post because it could be a slow SD card where the phone is still writing the just taken photo to the SD card and all of a sudden it is interrupted by a request to display the photo on the screen. If this is the case maybe a faster SD card would fix the problem and that would be a sweet fix for you and the others.
I know of expensive cameras that have had a similar problem and they recommend a faster storage card be purchased for the camera. Also, that is why fast multiple shooting will not allow automatic previews.
Your photos are indeed great. How did you hold it so still. I am impressed with the focus too. How is your hand hold of the camera, I had trouble. Maybe mine is just not fosusing properly. I'll try some more.
Thanks and best regards,
JerryF
Battery fully charged or not the problem will still happen intermittently ( I have observed / tested this ). It also doesn't matter if I'm running the 2600 mAh or stock battery. I understand that having the charger plugged in will ensure that there is probably the most available power going to unit but doesn't really prove anything due the fact that I bet less than 1% of pics are taken with a charger plugged in. The ability to test the amount of strain or draw on the battery or circuits internal in the phone would have to be checked and evaluated by individuals that have such equipment and specifications for doing so. Now if Samsung asked me to plug in a testing device and duplicate this for them that would seem like the only way that the manufacture would get any useable feedback.
As for my SD card it is the same SanDisk 32 GB micro SD HC ( with some symbol of a 4 in the middle of a C ) that came with my Thunderbolt and I transferred to my Charge. Yes I wiped and formatted the SD card before use and have done it again since this issue started. I'm also assuming that some of the individuals posting on here with this issue are using the SD card that came with their Charge. So is the one it came with fast enough to process this procedure? Also note I do not take rapid fire pics. I give the camera ample time to focus and process between pics.
The pic of the NSX with the dash removed was taken while simply standing with both hands on the phone and arms mildly extended. The next pic of the leaking Kawasaki Z1000 oil pump was taken while laying on my back. Again holding with both hands while touching the screen to get the proper focus of the drip of oil coming off the case. Nothing fancy just a technician snapping pics.
Right this moment I have my 2600 mAh battery installed about 70-80% charged I took 1 pic with flash off ( were it was set from my last use ) pic good and saved, 1 pic with it set to auto and the flash didn't go off but pic was good and saved, then one pic with flash set to on and it blacked out. Between each pic I took the time to change the setting and take a focused pic. I let phone sit in its useless state to see if anything will start happening and nothing. Pulled battery and restarted device.
Then I decided to plug in the charger while it reboots and once rebooted take a few more pics ( with and without flash ) and no problems. Unplugged charger and took about 5 more pics and it blacked out again. So I guess that kinda maybe says it can't pull enough power from the battery to keep the phone running during pictures with flash.
Some time passed while I am playing with the phone....
Just did another series of pics with the charger plugged in and couldn't get it to die. Then I unplugged the charger, closed the camera app, gave the phone a minute to process, opened the camera app, took one pic with the flash on and it blacked out.
So I guess this is case closed on what the problem is now it's still up to Samsung ( and VZW ) to fix it. I say this cause even though I was skeptical of your charger plugged in test it does prove that the phone will take pic after pic with an ample power supply and since taking pics with the charge plugged into the phone is not stated as normal operation in the manual or anywhere that I have looked this is clearly a design flaw by the manufacture and needs to be addressed.
Thank you JerryF for your help and motivation in working through this but unless you work for Samsung, VZW, or a consumer rights group of the government I don't see this getting any further than right here ( although I hope it does ). I might just message this to all the VZW employees I harass on a regular basis to see if that can inspire someone to take this issue personally and get some results.
Also note that I am marking this as the solution since I think that it proves it's NOT the SD card, the battery's state of charge, a setting, or a malicious app. Even though it is not a solution I think it's the closest thing to one since there is nothing we can do till a fix to this problem is listed at the bottom of an update.
TominqueBo_VZW
ChristinaB_VZW
SammuelP
All commented on this and were messaged to look into it for us. Please note that I will go into a store or send my device to have it looked at if that's what it takes to get a better understanding of this issue but seeing as to how I am making the effort to help in this I would hope that you would make the effort to make sure this isn't anymore of an inconvenience for me like by maybe setting me up with a comparable device to use in the mean time.
Thanks again, Gary aka Greenrobot.
Gary,
I looked at your pics again and they are great. I RESET my camera and it is now focusing much better. Camera reset is easy because it doesn't reset a zillion billion things. Your photos convinced me to try the camera some more, thanks.
Take a look at my post (actually 3 of them), "Is you battery hurting your phone." I think that's what it's called.
More tests for you to try.
Best,
Did you mark this solved. If it is what's the answer?
This is from the above post.
Also note that I am marking this as the solution since I think that it proves it's NOT the SD card, the battery's state of charge, a setting, or a malicious app. Even though it is not a solution I think it's the closest thing to one since there is nothing we can do till a fix to this problem is listed at the bottom of an update.
I got my replacement today and it has the same problem. Note that it is not the SD card and they said that it was not the SIM. This one was right out of the package. They are sending me yet another "like New' replacement. Tech support again said that they have never hear of this issue. I told them, again, to simply google "droid charge camera locks" and they will see this forum. Piece of crap.
betteroff87 wrote: I got my replacement today and it has the same problem. Note that it is not the SD card and they said that it was not the SIM. This one was right out of the package. They are sending me yet another "like New' replacement. Tech support again said that they have never hear of this issue. I told them, again, to simply google "droid charge camera locks" and they will see this forum. Piece of crap.
I am sad to hear that because it only means the VZW is going to continue to pass these devices along to people till their customers become so angry that they are yelling at CSRs. I went though this with my Thunderbolt I got 3 replacements before they agreed that the best solution is to swap me to another phone.
Before you send back your replacement phones go to menu>task manager>downloaded and take a look at what APPS are on the phone you just received. Who knows we might get a clue if an APP is causing the problem. Also, start uninstalling those APPS you might suspect and try the camera again.
Also go to menu>applications>Manage Applications, click on the ALL tab and look through that list to see what is on the phone. You might consider uninstalling some of these and then try the camera again.
By the way, I once used a battery saver APP called JUICE DEFENDER and uninstalled it because it was to invasive and to over controlling. Could a Battery Saver APP be restricting power??? Take out Juice Defender if it's there.
Finally, do a Factory Data Reset and try the phone again.
I know I am just fishing but that's what you do when you don't know what else to do!
Anyhow it's an opportunity to clean out everything and try the camera again.
If the battery is to weak put your freshly charged one in and try the camera. Don't forget to take it out!
Palm smashing face right now. Sorry Jerry but that is the same stuff that every VZW tech asks you to do. They follow the same procedure for every simple issue. The other poster on here just now verified that even a brand new replacement ( well refurb ) right out of the box does the same thing. Like I said before I went through the reboot, reset, and replace 3 times with the Thunderbolt but if it's the same hardware and the same software it won't matter what apps are installed it's going to keep doing it. If an app is to blame for this VZW, Samsung, or maybe even Google should look into what apps cause these issues because passing the blame and leaving it at that is not a solution or good business.
When I was battling to get a Thunderbolt that didn't reboot, had reliable hotspot, didn't delete messages, and so on VZW went through the same process of sending me refurbished unit and refurb unit. When it came down to the last time I said I would except a replacement I demanded a NEW Thunderbolt ( due to the fact that refurbs were the same or worse ) which they would not give me but instead they sent me a more expensive device and replaced all my accessories that I had bought for the T-bolt. It just baffles me that VZW will take such an expensive and frustrating route to repairing or avoiding these issues. I don't like the blame game I had the original Droid and I had the Droid X before the T-bolt and the Charge and never had to call tech support or even look at this forum but since I have gotten their 2 newest 4g phones it has been nothing but trouble, poor troubleshooting, and poor customer service.
JerryF wrote: Gary, Before you send back your replacement phones go to menu>task manager>downloaded and take a look at what APPS are on the phone you just received. Who knows we might get a clue if an APP is causing the problem. Also, start uninstalling those APPS you might suspect and try the camera again. Also go to menu>applications>Manage Applications, click on the ALL tab and look through that list to see what is on the phone. You might consider uninstalling some of these and then try the camera again. By the way, I once used a battery saver APP called JUICE DEFENDER and uninstalled it because it was to invasive and to over controlling. Could a Battery Saver APP be restricting power??? Take out Juice Defender if it's there. Finally, do a Factory Data Reset and try the phone again. I know I am just fishing but that's what you do when you don't know what else to do! Anyhow it's an opportunity to clean out everything and try the camera again. If the battery is to weak put your freshly charged one in and try the camera. Don't forget to take it out! JerryF
I assume you were referring to me, Bob. I did not send anything back but I am not too thrilled about me troubleshooting their faulty hardware that I paid top dollar for. I will have time later on and may give it a shot to help the rest of us out. Again, the one right out of the box has the preinstalled apps, all of which cannot be uninstalled from a stock standpoint without 3rd party/rooting etc.
I just read through all of today's many replies and there was one common factor. All of you who received replacement phones put your old SIM card in as well as your old SD card, except one person who put a 1GB SD card in. I know that you have been told it cannot be the SIM card but.....
If my Verizon phone was causing me that much frustration and hassle I would get it tested with a different SIM Card and a different SD card!
Maybe your local VZ phone store will let you try it with the SIM card that is in their floor-model demo Charge phone but be sure to first test their demo phone to see that flash photos are not causing it to lockup.
I'm going to wait for the 3rd phone. I simply don't have the time to troubleshoot their device. My Verizon store, Monroeville PA, is insanely busy and a Friday would be nuts. I already have 3 hours tied up in the defective ones. I am technical by nature, but I expect better results for the money paid. I appreciate everyone's feedback and I hope to add to it soon.
GreenRobot wrote:On the SD card and especially the SIM card ideas as being the problem sorry but I just proved that the SIM card doesn't matter. VZW tried blaming Thunderbolt issues on the SIM and immediately after getting a new one I still had problems. As for our Charge camera issues guess what the camera works without it installed and the phone will even still black out and lock up without it installed. Yes I just tried. How about we just call it as it is and blame the phone..
Yep. I'll send an update tomorrow. If it does the same thing, I will just be getting them to turn my orignal one back on. Then I may dig up an old phone and send this one off to Samsung. At the very least, I will be contacting them.
GreenRobot wrote: Right this moment I have my 2600 mAh battery installed about 70-80% charged I took 1 pic with flash off ( were it was set from my last use ) pic good and saved, 1 pic with it set to auto and the flash didn't go off but pic was good and saved, then one pic with flash set to on and it blacked out. Between each pic I took the time to change the setting and take a focused pic. I let phone sit in its useless state to see if anything will start happening and nothing. Pulled battery and restarted device. Then I decided to plug in the charger while it reboots and once rebooted take a few more pics ( with and without flash ) and no problems. Unplugged charger and took about 5 more pics and it blacked out again. So I guess that kinda maybe says it can't pull enough power from the battery to keep the phone running during pictures with flash. Some time passed while I am playing with the phone.... Just did another series of pics with the charger plugged in and couldn't get it to die. Then I unplugged the charger, closed the camera app, gave the phone a minute to process, opened the camera app, took one pic with the flash on and it blacked out. So I guess this is case closed on what the problem is now it's still up to Samsung ( and VZW ) to fix it. I say this cause even though I was skeptical of your charger plugged in test it does prove that the phone will take pic after pic with an ample power supply and since taking pics with the charge plugged into the phone is not stated as normal operation in the manual or anywhere that I have looked this is clearly a design flaw by the manufacture and needs to be addressed. Thank you JerryF for your help and motivation in working through this but unless you work for Samsung, VZW, or a consumer rights group of the government I don't see this getting any further than right here ( although I hope it does ). I might just message this to all the VZW employees I harass on a regular basis to see if that can inspire someone to take this issue personally and get some results. Also note that I am marking this as the solution since I think that it proves it's NOT the SD card, the battery's state of charge, a setting, or a malicious app. Even though it is not a solution I think it's the closest thing to one since there is nothing we can do till a fix to this problem is listed at the bottom of an update.
That's why I marked it solved because I felt like this identifies that there is an internal problem with the phone not getting the power it needs to operate. I also marked it as solved to give the VZW employees I messaged about this issue a focal point since they tend not to read threads completely. Although the only response I have gotten from VZW is that "they passed it up the line"...
I know you are inclined to keep your current phone because everything is working except flash pictures. As a friend, I encourage you to do just that...keep it. Furthermore I say the following because I am convinced that the final FIX will be a new FULLY CHARGED battery. Mind you I don't know this for sure but the evidence points in that direction.
Here are my thoughts. What if a few users of this phone buy a new 1600 or 2600 mAh battery and they do not NOT fully charge it before starting to use it in their phone. By fully charged I mean a minimum of 4 hours and up to 8 hours, especially for the 2600 mAh battery, in a 115 Volt 1 amp wall charger (not the phone) to absolutely guarantee a full charge. Otherwise the battery may never be fully charged even though the phones display of the current might show 100%. It may show 100% when it's only half full. I charged my new 2600 mAh battery for 7-8 hours in a 115 volt 1 amp wall charger before ever putting it into my Samsung Charge phone.
If you like your current phone, rather than someone else's cast off junk, keep it and go get another NEW Samsung 2600 mAh battery and a 1 amp wall charger. Remember the phone using a USB connection charges at 1/2 AMP and a wall charger at 1 AMP. Don't even try to charge the new battery in the phone even if it's connected to Samsung 115 volt charger because you probably will interrupt the charge by using the phone. That's rule #1.
I say this because I do not think that some circuit in the phone could hold back the current.
I know I have pushed you pretty hard and you have been very nice about it but as a last resort this is exactly what I would do if I were in your shoes. Once your phone is gone Verizon will only give you phones that are already broken.
Other folks with this same problem might try this suggestion especially if you want to keep your current Charge phone.
Some of you folks with this problem, can you remember how well you charged your battery BEFORE using it in the phone?
Best personal regards,
Gary, Take a look at the two most recent posts in the thread, "Is your battery hurting....."
Thanks Jerry and trust me I know all about VZW replacement phones. I'm actually going to do this once I get some time to do so I'm going to make video of the phone doing this and post it on youtube. I have the Samsung dock with seperate battery charging area for my extra batteries. My new batteries always get a good full charge before use. I will also check out our other post you should copy and paste links so we don't have to go hunt it down.
This issue is by no means solved.
Here's my experiences:
My phone is a Droid Charge, new from Verizon, with latest OTA software updates applied. SD card is a Sandisk 32GB, Class 4.
bluevolume wrote: This issue is by no means solved. I Agree Here's my experiences:Behavior is described as this: Flash picture is taken with camera, and phone locks-up before writing the picture to disk. Returning to operational state requires removing the battery.Experienced this problem with full battery and with various states of depleted battery.Problem does appear to be more repeatable with low battery. You may have to take a few pictures in succession to experience the lock-up when battery is full.Disabling "review" feature does not resolve problem.Disabling flash does seem to resolve problem, though that is not an acceptable solution.Connecting phone to power source via USB does seem to resolve the problem, also not an acceptable solution.Re-formatting SD card and deleting all content does not resolve problem.My phone is a Droid Charge, new from Verizon, with latest OTA software updates applied. SD card is a Sandisk 32GB, Class 4. Nice write up looks like you got the bases covered.
This issue is by no means solved. I Agree
Nice write up looks like you got the bases covered.
I'm going to remove the solved designation since this thread seems to be getting a lot more attention and it appears that since it's marked solved it is causing some confusion. I only marked as such because we seemed to have all agreed that the device is the source of the problem ( not the SD,SIM,app, or battery ).
Betteroff87,
Thank you for going to the Verizon store and getting a NEW battery. Let's just call this Test #3: The "New Battery Test." As you know I have been pushing the idea that it had to be the battery that was the culprit in this issue.
I am glad for you that your phone is now working as it should and it is even nicer that you were able to keep your original Samsung Charge phone as opposed to getting someone else's cast off!
Best regards,
JerryF.
If BAD batteries turn out to be the cause of the flash picture phone lockup problem it may also be the root cause of many other problems. If this turns out to be the case it may save Verizon and Samsung thousands of dollars in returned phone exchanges.
May I suggest that you folks that have ANY OTHER problems such as dropped calls, cannot text, poor network connections and so forth with your phone look into exchanging the battery BEFORE you send the phone back to Verizon.
I am sticking to the bad battery theory for the following reasons. I ran the phone all day Saturday working a job that I had to take a before/after photo at. The battery did not get hot, as it always did before, lasted extremely longer, the entire day when I was traveling in and out of various network ranges. The phoen was a solid trooper all day. I am 85% convinced it was simply a bad battery. Sometimes the simple things get overlooked. I hope someone else can confirm this to strengthen the results.
I am glad you mentioned that at times your battery would get HOT. This, too, is a warning sign of a BAD battery.
Anyone on this blog whose battery gets noticeably hot at times may also have a bad battery; although, your battery may not yet be causing you problems it probably will.
One cause of the heat can be that the battery is resisting being the charged. I think we finally found the problem.
Had this with my first Charge, and with that and a few other problems (rebooting itself, for one), Verizon replaced the phone. So far, this has not been an issue again with the camera.
Kurleelocks wrote: Had this with my first Charge, and with that and a few other problems (rebooting itself, for one), Verizon replaced the phone. So far, this has not been an issue again with the camera.
Did they swap out your battery as well? Or new phone, same battery?
One more time. Get a new battery and also REMOVE any and all APPS that monitor, control or have anything to do with your battery.
JerryF wrote: One more time. Get a new battery and also REMOVE any and all APPS that monitor, control or have anything to do with your battery. JerryF
I need to see some more research/results before I shell out for a new battery. Like I said, I've had this phone less than a month, if this phone needs a new battery Verizon should be providing it under warranty.
Bluevolume,
If you want more research proof go down through this thread to the post by BETTEROFF87 where he or she went to Verizon, tested the phone with their battery, and they gave him or her a new battery after it fixed the phone. Be more proactive!!!
JerryF wrote: Bluevolume, If you want more research proof go down through this thread to the post by BETTEROFF87 where he or she went to Verizon, tested the phone with their battery, and they gave him or her a new battery after it fixed the phone. Be more proactive!!! JerryF
Sounds like a plan. I didn't catch that they just replaced the battery, I thought the entire phone had been replaced in these instances.
I'll hit the Verizon store on the way home from work today. Thanks for the info.
No dice brother. I went into the store this afternoon and swapped batteries with both a Charge on display, and the personal phone of the manager working there. My phone still locked up when taking a flash picture. The battery from the Manager's phone pretty much seals it, because he has never experienced the lock up with his phone.
They are sending me a refurb, which I guess is my only option. I'm not all that psyched about it because my current phone is only about 3 weeks old.
TamaraH,
Please give these folks a very detailed description of how to put their phone into SAFE MODE and, of course, how to take it out of Safe Mode because this is the EASY way to do a test with all the APPs they installed temporarily disabled. In other words, they do not have to actually uninstall and rereinstall their APPs.
NOTE: Please make it a step-by-step easy to follow very detailed procedure.
Jerry,
These instructions come from the VZW support site.
Click here to view.
JerryF wrote: TamaraH, Please give these folks a very detailed description of how to put their phone into SAFE MODE and, of course, how to take it out of Safe Mode because this is the EASY way to do a test with all the APPs they installed temporarily disabled. In other words, they do not have to actually uninstall and rereinstall their APPs. NOTE: Please make it a step by step easy to follow detailed procedure. Sorry for saying this so directly but in the past you have given half-correct how to's or incompletely described how to do something. Best regards,JerryF
NOTE: Please make it a step by step easy to follow detailed procedure.
Sorry for saying this so directly but in the past you have given half-correct how to's or incompletely described how to do something.
Just an FYI - the replacement device I received from Verizon exhibits this problem straight out-of-the-box. No backup restore, not even associating with a Gmail account. There was absolutely nothing else installed.
NIce to see everyone still plugging away at this since I have been away. Bluevolume has made an awesome recommendation and that is that he would send in one of the known faulty devices to Samsung. To me this seems like a brilliant idea because Samsung could probably actually duplicate the problem with one of faulty devices. In my industry actually being able to duplicate the problem is the only way to get a compliant fixed. TamaraH_VZW maybe you could work with bluevolume to get one of the devices he has into the right hands instead of just shipping it back to the refurb dept. As far as I'm concerned until I hear that Samsung has been able to identify the issue and a fix is on its way I'm done spending time on this.
My Charge locks up with "Review" turned off, LED flash ON. But I have found that the lower the charge state if the battery, the more likely it is to lock up and require pulling the battery. It rarely locks up with\LED flash turned off.
Mariner53,
Try this to see if it is really a BAD battery. Plug your phone into the charger. Then when the battery is FULLY charged keep the phone plugged into the charger and take some flash pictures to see if it still locks up. NOTE: keep it connected to the charger while taking the flash pictures.
Please let us know your results.
OK, mine is now doing the same thing. The 2nd time this week. It happens on the 2nd picture, and the second time, my battery was at 38% charge level.
The only way to get the phone back on, is to pull the battery and re-boot it.
So what is the "fix"?
Sincearly
Will
Read the previous post to yours.
JerryF,
I see multiple fixes and non-fixes. Is it the battery or somehting else? If so I'll go to my store and expect a new one for a phone less than 6 months old.
Thanks,
Will,
It has helped some folks and not others. There appear to be several causes (some still unlnown) and you will be one of the lucky ones if it's the battery. What is your hesitation in trying this battery test? Please post your results.
Anyone elses camera make a slight squeal sound when the camera is turned on? Mines does this sometimes....kinda weird. Wish it would stop!
Mine does this as well. Verizon's only solution, their usual go-to solution, is to restore to factory settings. I've done this twice, and now my phone is doing it yet again. They need to collaborate with Samsung and find a REAL solution, perhaps a sofware update. My camera is not working again, it's frustrating. It just starts to take a photo then the screen turns black and have to do a soft reset on my phone to get it to work. I have installed NO new apps (or updates) between when it work and when it stopped working. It is crazy.
Everyone, our product team has been monitoring this issue with the camera and the next software release for this phone is expected to resolve issues with the phone powering down when using the camera. The software is still being finalized. I do not have a date for the software release at this time.
" the next software release for this phone is expected to resolve issues with the phone powering down when using the camera."
I pray this isn't part of the great wait we are experencing for Gingerbread for our phones. That wait is starting to kill me.
I need to re-test, but I hvn't been able to re-product the issue to verify it's the battery, but since both times I did not have cell reception, I'm wondering if it has anyhting to do with Verizon phones excesive high battery drain while searching for service added to the power demand for the flash?
MarquiaF_VZW wrote: Everyone, our product team has been monitoring this issue with the camera and the next software release for this phone is expected to resolve issues with the phone powering down when using the camera. The software is still being finalized. I do not have a date for the software release at this time.
So we can stop going into stores and requesting new batteries because the product team has identified this as a software issue? Any word if this update will also be an OS update?
Verizon has record of this problem, along with a documented, repeatable, demonstrated cause and fix for the problem. It is not software. If your Charge is freezing up when you take a flash picture, yet it works fine while it is plugged in and charging via the USB cable, then the problem is a faulty battery. I know this because I'm the guy that was the test case they documented.
Verizon purged their inventory of Charge batteries and the new ones now have a diffrerent SKU. If you have the problem described above, you need a new battery. Software is not going to fix it.
bluevolume wrote: Verizon has record of this problem, along with a documented, repeatable, demonstrated cause and fix for the problem. It is not software. If your Charge is freezing up when you take a flash picture, yet it works fine while it is plugged in and charging via the USB cable, then the problem is a faulty battery. I know this because I'm the guy that was the test case they documented. Verizon purged their inventory of Charge batteries and the new ones now have a diffrerent SKU. If you have the problem described above, you need a new battery. Software is not going to fix it.
MarquiaF
It appears to be a software issue, I haven't heard anything from our product team about the battery being the issue.
I conflicting stories they are soooo much fun to read...
Thank you for posting this information. I knew as sure as shootin' from my previous experience with batteries that it most likely was the battery and not the phone.. Immediately, when I first read the description of the problem at the beginning of this very long thread, I devised a battery test to prove or disprove whether it was the battery or the phone.
I feel vindicated!
It's really not worth it at this point but if the Verizon techs would have gone over each of the posts in this thread they would have seen where some people fixed the problem with a new battery or it worked with a freshly recharged battery or it worked with the phone plugged into the charger and so forth. Verizon could have saved themselves a lot of money, e.g., a new battery is a lot less costly than a replacement phone. They even could have tested it with a battery from a previous batch of batteries purchased earlier. I have always wondered if the senior top-techs look at these forums. If not they are missing a lots of good ideas.
Thanks for your post and best personal regards,
JBorch8 wrote:I was reluctant to agree with the battery being the issue since I had just purchased the extended, samsung factory, battery, and the problem still persisted. It appears though that it is the most likely cause. I still don't know why the phone won't crash when using the camera's flash as a flashlight though. Wouldn't this cause more crash issues?
It's the camera that's drawing the most power. The combination of the camera and the flash, though, is what pushes it too far.
If you take enough pictures with the flash off you'll still get a crash. It just doesn't happen as often.
Mine just did it again!
Battery at 67% charge, but again I was in a weak signal (from no signal to what little signal wasn't even 3G) area (inside my out building) and it was the second picture taken that it died on. It happened twice.
First time the 1st picture wasn't even saved to the SD card.
Second time the 1st picture was atleat saved.
Neither time the 2nd picture was saved.
10/24/2011
Next time this happens IMMEDIATELY plug into your 110 volt 1 amp charger that came with the phone. Give it 5, 10, or more minutes to start building up the amperage. Leaving it plugged into the charger then take a flash photo and tell us if it still locked up.
The amperage power draw can be compared with your car where a bad battery cannot even make the engine turnover because it does not have enough amperage BUT it will still run the lights. That same comparison holds true when comparing a flash picture to using the camera as a flashlight.
Take note that the flash camera takes TWO QUICK flashes, first a somewhat dimmer flash for focusing (this is drawing amperage) and them it IMMEDIATELY moves from the dimmer flash to a FULL power flash (lots of amps). In fact it probably instantly moves from drawing a lot of amps to a maximum amp draw and that is just to much for some batteries to handle.
I might guess that some folks who bought extended batteries have crippled them from the start by using them to soon. Any new LI Ion battery should be charged at least 6 hours and preferably 10 hours on the 110 volt 1 amp charger that came with your phone before ever using it. If any of you did not do this you might BUMP charge your battery to fix it. In this BLOG search on the word BUMP to see my write up on BUMP charging.
JerryF wrote: 10/24/2011 The amperage power draw can be compared with your car where a bad battery cannot even make the engine turnover because it does not have enough amperage BUT it will still run the lights. That same comparison holds true when comparing a flash picture to using the camera as a flashlight.
I love when cars get compared to electronics :smileyhappy: Since I FIX cars I thought it would be funny to bring to light how ridiculous this is.
R.O # 1
Complaint : My car won't start some times. It's happens sometimes on the first starting or after driving all day making random stops.
Cause : Technician was able to duplicate compliant then plugged car into a charge and now car starts fine.
Correction : Replaced battery.
So this tech replaced a battery because the car would start while plugged into a charger but never actually tested the battery, the start draw, the cables, or any other possible causes. From some of what people on here have written including myself batteries have been replaced but the problem continues to occur.
R.O. # 2
Compliant : Last month battery was replaced for not starting, customer states vehicle still has problem with it not starting randomly.
Cause : Technician was able to duplicate compliant then plugged car into a charge and now car starts fine.
Correction : Replaced battery.
Now we have the same car back for the same problem and the tech obviously didn't learn that it's not the battery but did the same test and recommended the same part be replaced. This is not a repair because this year, make, and model obviously has something else going on with it. Would you return to this shop again? I wouldn't.
JerryF do you believe that this test proves a bad battery, improper initially charged, or low state of charge on the battery and that the battery is the repair for this issue? I ask cause I see you recommending this but still no one seems to say that the issue is solved leading me to believe that it's not only the battery causing this issue.
Let's call off the he said she said. I am not refuting any your ideas. I'm just trying to help.
Yes I believe that a BAD battery can cause this. I also believe that either circuit board problems can cause it (I cannot help in this case) or bad software can cause it and I cannot help in this case either..
So far Verizon has not come up with any help for this problem. BTW, a couple of folks did say that the battery in their Charge was bad and that after replacing it their problem was fixed. I do not remember which threads mentioned that and it would serve no useful purpose for me to search for those comments. I accept your statement at face value.
OTOH, I do wish there was a battery "load tester" for cell phone batteries like there is for Automobile 12 volt batteries. If I had a load tester I would not have to do that HOKEY test method to try see if it might be the battery.
We both know that someday it will be fixed by software, new battery, or another phone.
Gary, one of my problems re the battery test is that with all the folks that I feel have a possible battery related problem VERY FEW have reported back as to their results when they ran the battery test. So often folks ask for help or complain and then NEVER report back as to their results with the help they received.
It does it when I'm in my out building (almost repeatable, but not always) and my charger/cord is no where ne the locaiton.
I find it stange that when the phone has no signal, or a non-3G signal that the problem occurs.
I have had almost 6 replacements and every single phone that i have does this. please let us know what we can do. this cannot be normal and as much as i use my camera - i shouldn't have to deal with taking the battery out almost every time. thanks so much!
I am on my 6th replacement and every one has done it what can we do to get this fixed?
I spoke with Samsung today and they have no idea about any kind of release coming out. They were not even aware of this issue with the camera! what can we do???????????
I've opened an Issue up with Google, perhaps they can help us get to the bottom of the problem.
Android - An Open Handset Alliance Project
Mine does it too sometimes, but only when the battery is low. It never happens if the battery is at least half full or more.
Hello,
My camera dies approximately 75% of the time when I try to take a flash photo. That's alot! Today it took me like 15 minutes to take 1 photo because the flash kept killing the phone.
My Droid Charge is 2 months old, and the battery today was fully charged (charged overnight), and as mentioned above, it took me forever to finally get the picture I wanted because the phone kept on shutting off, every time I used the flash.
It's really annoying, and requires me prying it out of a really difficult to open case I have it in, then taking out the battery, then hitting the on/off button between 5-8 times to get it back on.
I see there are some 16 pages of comments on this thread. What are the options for this?
This is really getting annoying. And I am missing some great pictures, that I cannot replicate because the phone shuts down and doesn't photograph my desired photo.
Advice?
-Bummed about my Droid Charge
florucci,
The last word in your post was...Advice? Here is some advice that MIGHT identify the CAUSE of your probem.
__________________________________________
Because of the wide range of problems I see here it made me wonder if BAD batteries might be the cause because so many have different problems yet so many others are okay as well as some phones have worked okay and later they start to fail as if the battery is failing!
First let's do this to level the playing field for these tests. It will not reset you phone. If you are afraid to do this forget this step. Removed the battery, the Micro SD card, and the SIM card for 60+ seconds and then put them back in. NOTE: before you start this process go to Settings>SD card & phone storage and click on Unmount SD card. Then turn off your phone by holding the upper right side button for 10 seconds or until it turns off. Remove the battery first and then the SD card and then the SIM card. Be gentle with the SIM card and keep track of which direction goes in first and which side is up.
Wait 60+ seconds, insert the SD card and the SIM card and finally the battery. Turn on the phone and go to Settings>SD card & phone storage and click on ReMount the SD card. You are set to go.
Forget the little blue battery that show charging in the upper right corner of you home page screen. To see your battery's charge level use the percent of charge instead. In case anyone does not know here is where it is...from th Home page go to Settings>About Phone>Status and the second item down is Battery Level in percent and above that the Battery Status shows if it is charging or not.
A weak or failing battery can appear to charge up fully but in reality only it's voltage level is okay so the phone appears to operate okay. What occurs is the amp hours, which are really the power in your battery, may also look good but in a weak or failing battery instead of lasting for hours the mini-amp hours (mAh's) of your battery may go down within a few minutes or an hour or a little heavy use by you. For example, using the camera's flash could bring it down after one or two photos. I'm sure some of you know that when your car battery is questionable they use a load tester which puts a electrical load on the battery for a few minutes and they measure how much that depleted the battery.
Test #1 is to the have a FULLY charged battery It's important that it's fully charged so go take a look at its percentage of charge. Next, have the phone plugged into the 115 volt electrical current, NOT the USB port because the USB port does not charge with as mich power as does the 115 volt charging. Now use you phone that way for a while to see if any of your problems go away because you now have the highest and best power available. Best of Luck!
Test #2 is to see if your battery loses it's mAh power to quickly. In other words does it discharge to quickly. Again start with a fully charged battery and the phone should NOT be plugged in for charging. Go look at its percent of charge and write it down. I hope it's 99% or more. Then set your camera up and take EXACTLY 10 flash pictures, no more no less. Set the flash to ON so it flashes every time. I chose flash picture because they appear to use lot's of battery power. After the pictures check the percentage of charge again. Did it go down below 50% or further? That may be a sign of a failing battery. It is to bad we do not have any statistics regarding how far down it might go but do tell us your results for your test so we can compare. We want the batteries % to start with and it's % at the end of the test.
Hi,
Thanks! I just replied elsewhere - but see your great advice above. Thanks. I will try this and report back. I do have phone replacement insurance I bought, so I can always call them, and am considering doing that tomorrow, as this issue is really causing me issues. But the above outlines some good steps which may help me better pinpoint the problem before I talk to them, so I will try it.
Thanks - I'll let you know how it goes.
(I have 3 Droid Charges in my family. I bought 2 more for my mom and dad in July (mine at the end of August), so need to understand if this is an issue in all Droid Charges, some Droid Charges, or just mine.)
I have been having this problem for the last 3 months or so. They are sending me my second replacement after many factory resets and have told me as recently as yesterday that this is not a known problem for this device. At one point last week they had decided to ship me a different device (motorola) but cancelled it without informing me. I found that out when I called to see what the tracking number was. I guess their fix is to keep sending out replacement until I am defeated and give up. Fruswtration level is very high.
I forgot to add that I use the camera for work and take about 150 pictures a day so this is a huge problem.
Abmorden,
When you get your phone I suggest that you FULLY charge the battery BEFORE you use the phone. Yes, I mean put it on the charger, walk away, maybe have a beer or 2 or even 3, and do NOT even turn on the phone for 4 to 6 hours. Let the battery fully charge. The only thing you do is put the battery in the phone. If it turns on by itself turn it off immediately.
The best way to do the first charge is to put the battery in and DO NOT even press the power button that turns on the phone. Charge it with the phone off. After it charges for 2-3 minutes you'll see a green battery that looks like a flashlight battery on the display screen and then it will go away so watch for it and then go get a beer Then hours later when it's fully charged the green colored battery will again appear with 100% on it. At this point unplug the charger and immediately re plug it back in. About 6-10 minutes later it will again say 100% in the green battery. At that point it's done. It's really full. BTW, use the small 110 volt charger that came with the phone because it's faster. It charges at 1 Amp.
After it is fully charged make sure it has Gingerbread 2.3.6 software on it. Touch Settings>About Phone an go to the bottom of the list of items. Does the Firmware Version say 2.3.6? If so it's Gingerbread 2.3.6. Now use the phone.
I believe some folks have caused themselves problems because they started using their phone with a weak battery.
When I posted this I noticed that you use your camera a lot. Because of that I encourage you to follow the above charging advice even more so. Hey..,maybe 5 or 6 beers!
can you even see how utterly ridiculous what you just typed is??? i mean its a device you paid a few hundred dollars for (most likely) and you are expected to complete this mantra of annoying steps to make it work? and plz don't give me some 'well thats how it works' nonsense... " return or replace the phone with something that WORKS or talk to customer service and speak to a supv and get the pos replaced
jduncan4,
My answer to your question in the first sentence of your post is NO.
I was NOT criticizing the Verizon Charge phone. Mine works great. You have misinterpreted my post to Abmorden!
Both myself and some battery manufacturers believe that a new cell phone battery should be fully charged BEFORE it is used in any cell phone.
My post offered a very thorough method of doing just that, fully charging a new battery the first time.
I would make this same recommendation with any and all brands of smart phones when a new battery is involved.
My review setting has always been off. This is the first time I've been to the settings and this box is not checked.
I have had this phone for 3-4 months. I always charge the battery 100% before using any new phone. My review setting is off. It doesn't matter if my battery is 100% charged or 75% or 40%, the same thing happens. I've done two factory resets. I've tried using the camera with nothing installed.. same issue.
I also have the issue where the GPS takes more than 20 minutes to locate since the last software update. For the 300 I paid for this phone, I'm pretty upset. I do not want a refurb, I want a phone that works - preferably my phone now.
I've read all 18 pages of this-- doesn't look like we are going to get a fix. Next time, I will wait longer before purchasing the "newest and greatest" phone. I'll wait a couple months and read these forums to see what's up.
Sad that Verizon doesnt give a crap either. They couldnt care less they are the big red machine and even 1000's of customers wouldnt matter. However the cheese selection for lunch probably matters most to the empty suits in the high rise each day.
Still running fine after a new battery. I guess I was a lucky one. There was a bad batch of shipped batteries. An easy factor, previously mentioned, is heat. If your phone gets hot easily, you have a junk battery. New, old, whatever. There had to be a faulty batch. I have only read 1 or 2 people who claimed to still have the problem after a battery swap.
did VZW give you a battery or you just bought one?
I'm on my 3rd Charge right now and it is doing the same thing as the previous two.
We need to blow up Samsungs customer support box to find and fix the problem.
Charge your battery to 100% and than leave your phone plugged into the charger. Then, with your charger still plugged into your phone, take some flash pictures again to see if a weak or bad battery is your problem.
This is just a way to test your battery .
My charge does this also. Every time i take a flash photo. This is my fourth charge and every one has acted the same (among many other problems) Verizon techs keep saying they've never heard of this.
my charge that i bought (599.00 w 100.00 rebate after mail in reciepts) in minnesota because my rogue phone broke and the sales person insisted i buy the charge phone, did the same thing.... took it to verizon store they wiped out all my phone... i was furious they lost all my pics media movies i had downloaded apps.... the lady didnt properly save my stuff before resetting.................. grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr i got a replacement they sent me a refurbished charge.............. its freezing also and my screen is crooked!!! grrrrrrrrrrrrrr im tired of customer service and thier excuses!!! the carge phone is CRAP!!!!!!! it never gets 4G battery life is 2 to 3 hours
Message was edited by: Bobbie Williams
You need a new battery, friend. VZW knows about this problem, it is documented and that is the accepted solution.
If you can't get them to send you a battery over the phone, go to a retail location and have them swap the battery in your phone for one in their display phone. Presto -- your phone will be taking pictures fine and their display one will lock up on every pic. You'll find a lot of crap on this forum, but please take my word that this is the real-deal.
I believe that there could be something to this, but I have two regular batteries and an extended battery and have the same problem regardless which one I use. Is it possible that all three are causing this?
Anything is possible. ;-)
If you have your Charge plugged in and 'charging', does the problem still occur? If taking pictures works fine while its 'charging', it points to the battery solution.
There were a crapload of bad batteries made for the Charge. They even changed the product number once they were fixed.
Dave,
Bluevolume is spot on 100% correct.
As a test, charge your phone over night and then in the morning when it's charged to 100% LEAVE IT PLUGGED INTO the charger and take some photos to see if it works okay. You might use your extended battery for this test. You may have to test both batteries to see if one or both are defective.
BTW, if it works okay in this test it's the battery for sure.
I posted the following on another discussion link, I just ran across this one, so I'm repeating it here:
"Taking photos in full light is fine. When the flash is used there is a major problem. The phone completely goes black and is locked up. This has happened several times over the past few weeks. The only way to restart is to remove and replace the battery. The last time the phone rebooted, a message came up saying that the battery was not supported (it's the Samsung battery shipped with the phone)! I've installed firmware updates, but there was no change. Anyone else have issues with the Charge flash/photo?"
yep, had it happen to me twice again this morning. battery was at half capacity.
I'm having this same problem with a Charge I purchased through Amazon Wireless in mid-January 2012. Problem does not occur when phone is plugged in. I'd be very interested on information on the faulty/good batteries. My battery indicates:
DB504465IZ 1600MH
VZW: SAMTBATS5
XNF DC110729
S/N: TH 1B729FS/D-B
If anyone has had luck dealing with Amazon on this issue, please pass it along.
chevelus,
Look at my old post where I suggest where you can get a 3500 mAh battery.
https://community.verizonwireless.com/message/645299/
I am still using that 3500 mAh battery and it is working perfectly. The attached photo of the battery will help you find the one I have been using for several months.
By the way, this battery or the 2600 mAh battery will make your phone thicker (see photo).
All you folks with flash problems, I am amazed at how long you post your problem and put up with the problem instead of being proactive and trying to fix it.
Why don't you go to your local bank and get a loan so you can afford a NEW battery??? These batteries are quite expensive so a loan may be required.
To see these EXPENSIVE batteries go to eBay>cell phones and search on i510 battery.
The attached photo shows both the 1500 and 3500 mAh ones. NOTE, they also come with a wall charger so you can charge the NEW battery overnight BEFORE you ever put it into your phone which, of course, is the proper way to start using a NEW battery.
Last but not least, just think how nice it would be if your flash worked properly and one point of stress in your life was eliminated!!!
listen pal, the point is that this is a known issue, and it's not on the customer to go buy a new battery when the device doesn't work. if you want to, fine, go right ahead, but don't tell those of us that spend quite a bit of money (whatever we're all spending on wireless service is unreal - believe me, if the economy of wireless access was scaled to the use of your laptop, it would be costing thousands of dollars a month) that we need to go buy something else. the wireless provider, software developer, and handset manufacturer - the onus is on them to figure out what the real issue is and tell us, then provide some sort of resolution. what you fail to see here is that there still has been no official communique from any of those three parties on the problem, and until one of them do, then this isn't going away. so go enjoy the new battery that you just bought.
I appreciate Jerry trying to provide solutions, but I agree with Elvisruns -- we are all aware of Jerry's work-around, which he has posted repeatedly here, and instead want the problem solved by the manufacturer and service provider.
This camera app lockup issue is clearly a software bug. The camera app worked fine on my Charge before the Gingerbread update.
All this battery stuff in this thread is a wild goose chase. There may be some folks out there will a bad battery, but there is very clearly a bug in the Camera app software.
I agree that it's a software issue. This is my second Charge that does this, and when I called today (I have an employee concession line) they told me it was a software issue that an update should have already been released for, but since it hasn't, I need to wait a few weeks for it to come out. Not a great solution, but it seems they are acknowledging that it is a problem. I am still thinking about just buying a Razr anyway.
